On March 15th 7 members of the Nashua Area Radio Society met at BOB to do an initial gear test and evaluation to begin our hands-on preparation for Field Day 2022. We were:
- AC1LN Joe Luszcz
- KB1RGB Rick Fulton
- KC1FNF Peter Wolczko
- KC1PEQ Hardy Hamilton
- KC1PWB Alan Whitney
- W1JDG John Ginsberg
- AC1EV Jon Turner
Our goal for the day was to inspect the Tents, Beam antenna, and Tower components we will use in June for Field Day.
BOB is the name we have for our storage location for our gear. It stands for Big Orange Box. It is a retired UPS trailer that is parked on the grounds of a city public works facility, so is secure and secluded. Our first step is to remove the bins which are stacked on the floor of the trailer to give us access to the rest of the gear we want to evaluate.
We selected tower sections that were color-coded from previous years to layout and confirm they all fit together and that we had all the required fasteners, guy lines, straps, pulleys, cables, etc. When we are actually setting up Field Day it is done in a time-limited window, so chasing after missing parts is best done in advance, not on the day of the event. We are fortunate this year that all the components are stored in clearly labeled Bins and Ziplock bags and our dedicated Tower construction toolkit is complete.
Here is the tower with the segments press-fitted to confirm they all fit. This was done before we found the detailed instructions from previous years. You can see progress on the tents in the background.
The first tent is assembled. There were no missing parts! Alan and Joe inspect their work. The first tent took longer to set up than the second and the third was even faster. Practice now will make the day of the event easier.
Peter and Hardy join in on the construction of the second tent and get a good lesson from Joe.
Our fourth tent is another brand, but not difficult to assemble. Tents will sit on tarps and have floors inside to support the tables and chairs that we’ll use during Field Day.
After we found and read the instructions, we re-assembled the tower parts in proper order and have the falling derrick installed along with the proper cabling and guys. We also confirmed we had the other required parts that are identified in the instructions. Given the shorter days and cooler temperatures in mid-March, we did not have time to evaluate the Beam antenna. We located the proper antenna and the dedicated toolkit for it, so we know where to begin when we return for more preparations. Sometime around 2:30, we decided it was time to pack everything up carefully and return it to the trailer. It took around an hour to tear down and pack up everything. I’m happy we had enough volunteers to make it easy.
Based on our experience this day we are scheduling another expedition to BOB on April 19th with a rain date of April 20th. This second trip is more ambitious. Our plan is to assemble the beam antenna and attach it to the tower and raise the whole assembly including additional dipoles and all coax and control wires required. Fred, AB1OC will guide us through the procedures so by the time we are going live on the day of Field Day we will have done this before. Some of us participated in past Field Days, and have experience with these tasks, but haven’t led the teams. In addition to confirming we aren’t missing any critical parts, and nothing is broken we will also have the experience of standing up this part of our station so can have experienced team leaders to manage our setup in June.
If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. It is also a lot of fun. Sharing this experience is a great way to build friendships along with complex radio stations. If you have any interest in joining us in this event, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. We will make sure you can be involved at whatever level you want and will share all our skills to make sure you can do it. We can turn “I don’t know how to do that” into “I didn’t know how to do that, but I do now”
73,
Jon AC1EV